Cynthia's Reviews > Beholder

When I read the synopsis to Beholder, my impression was that this would be a meaningful examination of art, wealth, and conceit woven into an unusual horror setup.

I don’t want to mislead you. I do think it encompasses those things. It just left me feeling hungry for something more substantial.

The horror aspect was fresh, and I think it takes a great deal of talent and inventiveness to pull off what La Sala did here. It was absolutely entertaining, although, for me, not completely immersive. That’s largely because it hadn’t been the profound tale I’d been craving.

It’s not completely superficial, though, as there are some insightful moments, but I would say it was more on the fun fiction side of things, which is totally fine. I just wanted something meatier from it. It was equivalent to a frozen dinner with promising packaging, but only two chunks of beef buried underneath less filling content on the inside.

I'm not the best scale for measuring creepiness, as fiction rarely succeeds in sending chills down my spine. I did not find this unsettling, though, and I really thought that aspect was a sure thing before I started.

It was a bizarre story, and I liked that about it, but my socks are still firmly in place so maybe the next book will knock them off.